Monday, May 12, 2008

MOVIE: BABY MAMA

Kate Holbrook (Fey) is a 37-year-old business executive who has always put her professional life before her personal life, but these days her biological clock is ticking louder than ever before. As with everything else she has accomplished in life, Kate is determined to have a child on her own terms. Unfortunately for Kate, the chance of her ever becoming pregnant is slim to none. Undaunted, a willful Kate drafts South Philly working-class girl Angie Ostrowski (Poehle) -- a girl who may just be her polar opposite -- to be a surrogate mother. Subsequently informed by the head of the surrogacy center (Sigourney Weav) that her surrogate is indeed pregnant, the excited mother-to-be soon purchases every child-rearing book she can find and excitedly begins the nesting process.

But life hasn't quit throwing Kate curve balls just yet, because when a pregnant Angie shows up on her doorstep with no place to live, the woman who once thrived on order finds her life descending into chaos. Now, as Kate attempts to transform Angie into the ideal expectant mother, this odd couple will discover that families aren't always biological, but occasionally formed through friendship as well.

my review: Going into this movie I kind of suspected I was going to see something along the lines of an episode of 30 Rock and SNL. Yet it doesn't come close to being like either of those two shows and thats a good thing. Tina Fey is good on 30 Rock and here plays sort of the same character but more toned down. So does Amy Poehler, who is usually over the top in every SNL sketch and movie she is in. In Baby Mama, her and Fey both have some serious moments and show that they can really act along with being funny.

The movie has a very simple premise and is easy to figure out where its going. There are a lot of funny scenes and a lot of ok scenes. Greg Kinnear is great as Fey's love interest and Steve Martin does a great job of playing a creepy earth nut. The direction is pretty bad, especially scenes and close-ups that have no importance, but they don't take too much away from the movie.

Fey and Poehler are the reasons to watch but don't expect anything like an episode of 30 Rock or a Poehler SNL sketch.